Revivalism, Protestant. Revivalism is the movement that promotes periodic spiritual intensity in church life, during which the unconverted come to Christ and the converted are shaken out of their spiritual lethargy. Often leading to social and moral reform activities, revivalism was one of the chief characteristics of American Protestantism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and still retains a powerful influence in many quarters. Unevenly distributed among the denominations, revivalism has